Connie Francis, the chart-topping pop singer of ’50s and ’60s classics like “Silly Cupid,” “The place the Boys Are” and the just lately TikTok viral “Fairly Little Child,” has died, in response to the New York Occasions. She was 87.
Francis’ longtime good friend and president of Concetta Information Ron Roberts introduced the information in a Fb publish on Wednesday evening, which Francis’ official account reposted. “It’s with a heavy coronary heart and excessive unhappiness that I inform you of the passing of my pricey good friend Connie Francis final evening,” he wrote. “I do know that Connie would approve that her followers are among the many first to study of this unhappy information. Extra particulars will observe later.”
She had just lately been hospitalized for “excessive ache,” however had posted on Fb July 4 that she was “feeling a lot better after a superb evening.”
Francis grew to become one of many defining feminine singers of the ’50s and ’60s, topping the charts on a number of events and promoting over 200 million information worldwide with hits like “Silly Cupid,” “Who’s Sorry Now” and “Frankie.” In 1960, she grew to become the primary lady to achieve No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 with “All people’s Anyone’s Idiot,” and later grew to become the primary lady to have three songs hit No. 1.
She just lately skilled a resurgence when B-side “Fairly Little Child” went viral on TikTok, leading to over 30 million new streams of the tune and its entry into Spotify’s world and U.S. charts in addition to reaching the highest 5 of iTunes’ U.S. pop songs chart. Francis then joined TikTok, the place she thanked her newfound followers in a video, saying she was “flabbergasted and excited” by the tune’s reputation over 60 years later.
Born Connie Franconero in Newark, N.J. on Dec. 12, 1937, Francis frequently carried out at expertise contests and pageants within the neighborhood and was finally suggested, earlier than an look on selection present “Arthur Godfrey’s Expertise Scouts,” to vary her final identify to Francis for simpler pronunciation. She had a rocky begin within the music business, together with her first eight singles failing commercially after she signed to MGM Information in 1955. Although she had her first style of success in 1957 with the Marvin Rainwater duet “The Majesty of Love,” which broke into the Billboard Sizzling 100, her recording contract with MGM got here to an finish.
Francis thought of pursuing a profession in drugs and was accepted into New York College, however at what was meant to be her last session, she recorded a canopy of the 1923 tune “Who’s Sorry Now.” Although the tune had a gradual begin, Dick Clark performed it on his “American Bandstand” in January 1958 and invited her to carry out it on “The Saturday Evening Beechnut Present” (which might later turn out to be “The Dick Clark Present”). The efficiency launched her profession, and “Who’s Sorry Now” reached No. 1 on the U.Okay. Singles Chart and No. 4 within the U.S., leading to MGM Information renewing her contract.
After teaming up with the songwriting duo Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, Francis had a slew of charting hits comprising each authentic and canopy songs like “Silly Cupid,” “My Happiness,” “Amongst My Souvenirs,” “Lipstick on Your Collar” and “Frankie.” She adopted that with an album of Italian songs, “Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites,” which launched in late 1959 and broadened her attain to a extra grownup viewers. However her success with pop continued into the early Nineteen Sixties, incomes extra hits that reached the highest 10: “Breakin’ in a Model New Coronary heart,” “When the Boy in Your Arms (Is the Boy in Your Coronary heart),” “Second Hand Love” and “The place the Boys Are.”
Francis grew to become one of many first recording artists to frequently make albums sung fully in different languages, together with in Italian, Yiddish, German, Romanian, Spanish and Irish. Her 1960 German-language tune “Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel” reached No. 1 in West Germany and led to her changing into a vastly well-liked artist in Europe, representing the epitome of a feminine American pop singer to the worldwide plenty. Even in the course of the Chilly Battle, her songs had been performed and effectively obtained within the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
Within the mid-Nineteen Sixties, Francis’ grip on the U.S. charts started to weaken because the Beatles and Rolling Stones took over. Nonetheless, she remained a profitable dwell performer and persistently bought out concert events within the U.S. and all over the world. In 1969, her contract with MGM expired.
The ’70s introduced a troublesome interval for Francis as she alleged she had been raped at a motel whereas showing on the Westbury Music Honest in New York. Although the assailant was by no means discovered, she sued the motel chain for insufficient safety and gained a a $2.5 million settlement. Nonetheless, the incident plummeted Francis into melancholy and she or he solely recorded one album, “Who’s Pleased Now?,” in 1978. She later underwent nasal surgical procedure and misplaced her voice, rendering her unable to carry out till 1981. That very same 12 months, her brother was killed by the mafia and Francis as soon as once more retreated from the highlight. In 1984, she wrote about her struggles within the memoir “Who’s Sorry Now?,” which grew to become a bestseller.
Throughout her later profession, Francis continued to file music and carry out dwell, headlining a number of exhibits in Las Vegas. She launched one other autobiography, “Amongst My Souvenirs,” in 2017 and formally retired in 2018.
Francis was married 4 instances and was additionally in a relationship with singer Bobby Darin. Throughout her third marriage to restaurateur Joseph Garzilli, she adopted a son named Joey. She was in a relationship with Tony Ferretti from 2003 till his demise in 2022.
She is survived by her son, Joey Garzilli.
